23 November 2014

A new venture capital fund, the Teralys Capital Innovation Fund, has just been launched thanks to funding from the governments of Quebec and Canada, as well as institutional and private investors.

Managed by Teralys Capital, the fund is intended to finance projects in the fields of IT and communications, life sciences, and clean technology.

The Teralys Capital Innovation Fund S.E.C. expects initial commitments totaling $279 million, including $186 million from private institutions and companies, such as the Fondaction CSN, National Bank, the Desjardins Group, Knight Therapeutics, and Open Text Corp. These are in addition to Teralys Capital’s list of initial partners – the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

Quebec and Ottawa will jointly contribute $93 million. Both levels of government may contribute up to $62.5 million each, $1 for every $2 of private investment. The target size of the fund is $375 million.

The Teralys Capital Fund was created as part of the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan.

Sources: Gouvernement of Quebec and Teralys Capital